Free throws add up to share of 1st title for C-M
CANONSBURG – Before school buses rolled up to Canon-McMillan High School many weekday mornings this fall, the Big Macs’ girls basketball players were already learning in the gymnasium.
First-year head coach Lou Waller wasn’t installing defenses during those 6 a.m. workouts. There wasn’t talk of an offense, either. Instead, the players spent a large portion of those mornings shooting free throws.
That preparation made the difference in arguably the biggest regular-season game in program history and earned this team a label that no other before has: section champions.
Canon-McMillan made 6 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter, including five by senior center Becca Turney, to defeat Bethel Park 47-44 Tuesday night at home, earning a share of the Section 4-AAAA championship with Peters Township.
“It’s huge for all of us,” Waller said. “I told the girls that 40 years from now, when you come back in this gym, you can tell your kids or grandkids to look at that banner and that we were the first in school history to win the section title.”
Turney scored a team-high 21 points with 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. She gave the Black Hawks (9-4, 14-5) fits down low, but did the most damage at the free throw line.
“Down the stretch, Becca made some huge free throws and we’ve been practicing that all year,” Waller said. “Everyone thought we were crazy for coming here at 6 a.m. to shoot free throws at the beginning of the year, but it pays off in the end.”
After Bethel Park junior forward Justine Mascaro, who had a game-high 22 points, made two free throws to give the Black Hawks a one-point lead with 42 seconds remaining, Canon-McMillan quickly took the ball down the court but made a costly turnover, however, Bethel Park immediately made an errant pass that Big Macs junior Cheyenne Trest collected and passed to Turney down low. She was fouled with 14.2 seconds remaining and made both free throws to regain the lead.
On the ensuing possession, Bethel Park senior guard Shannon Conley was fouled on a hand check but missed the front end of the one-and-one. Turney, a 6-3 Eastern Michigan recruit, was fouled and made both free throws for the 46-43 lead with 7.6 seconds remaining.
Mascaro was fouled with four seconds left but missed the first of two free throws. Trest made the front end of a one-and-one, and collected her own rebound on the back end, before the buzzer signaled that C-M basketball history had been made.
“It means the world to us,” Turney said. “We’ve worked hard, we were here in the summer. We went through the 6 a.m. practices before school and no one believed we could do it, but we believed it.”
Bethel Park made only 9 of 17 free throws, missing six in the fourth quarter while Canon-McMillan (11-3, 14-6) made 12 of 14.
“It was a really hard-fought game and both teams made some big shots,” Bethel Park head coach Jonna Burke said. “Unfortunately, it came down to some foul shooting and we were only 9 for 17 from the foul line. Some of those were front ends of one-and-ones. I feel like that’s where we lost it.”
An inability to stop Turney didn’t help, either. When Bethel Park schemed to stop Trest, who was held to 12 points, the Big Macs made an effort to get their post player involved with pick and rolls. When the Black Hawks switched to a zone defense to combat it, Canon-McMillan drew defenders to the outside before passing inside to Turney, who had 15 points in the second half.
She sparked a 14-2 run in the second quarter, helping the Big Macs grab a four-point lead at halftime. After struggling against Canon-McMillan’s 1-3-1 defense, Bethel Park began to lean on Mascaro and Conely. The pair combined for 12 of the Black Hawks’ 16 third-quarter points to regain the lead, but the Big Macs’ defense and Turney’s work down low made the difference.
“That’s a very potent one-two punch with her and Trest, so you have to pick your poison,” Burke said. “When we switched to zone and we came out to guard the shooter, they dumped it inside. They used her very well and she finished and came through big.”